April 13, 2013

Thank you, Blogicito Readers

heliconia, La Ceiba, Honduras
Heliconia psittacorum

Thank you, Blogicito Readers, for all of the congratulations you've sent recently! I spent all morning one day replying to everyone who wrote. I really appreciate your readership.

Pink ginger, La Ceiba, Honduras
Pink ginger - smells so good!
On a similar note, I was so encouraged by the avalanche of email and comments I received on my return to the blogosphere a few months ago! I was absolutely floored when I opened my email the morning after my first come-back article. I meant to write this thank you much earlier and then got sidetracked. I wasn't able to reply to all the emails and I apologize for that but I wanted to let the readers know how very much I appreciate all of your comments. I'm so happy that you are still out there. Thank goodness for the Feedburner email updates or you'd probably never know I was back to blogging again. I wouldn't have blamed you if you gave up on me.




Mussaenda philippica
Flower almost as big as the plant
Speaking of the Feedburner email updates, if you signed up to receive the Blogicito by email but haven't been receiving it, it is because you didn't complete the process. Feedburner requires a response to the confirmation email to prevent spammers from adding email addresses without the person's permission. It's for your protection, so click the link in their email to complete the final step of the subscription process.

I had forgotten how much time it takes to research, find or take photos, edit and arrange photos in blog articles, etc. Blogger has a new system that I had to get used to all over again, particularly the uploading and arranging of photos. It was supposed to be easier, but for me and the way I like to display photos, it's actually more time consuming (originally I typed 'confuming' — a Freudian slip for consuming and confusing).

Neomarica longifolia - Yellow Walking Iris
Learn more at My Dry Tropics Garden
Sometimes it takes as long to upload and arrange the photos as it does it write the article. Why does selecting "center" not center a photo? Why does moving one photo to the right change the next photos to the center? Jeesh! I'm not near the Google fan that I was a few years ago. Too many Google changes lately don't seem for the better to me. Oh, well, we have to have those photos, don't we?

I'd like to encourage all of you to leave the occasional comment on the Blogicito website if you are inspired to comment about an article. Don't be shy! While I appreciate all the private emails, it gets to be time consuming to have so many private conversations going on. Almost 950 people get the Blogicito by email. Of course, not all write to me but still, there is only one of me to answer. ;-) I don't always have time to respond to everyone and that makes me feel guilty!

Looking out the window in La Ceiba, Honduras
Looking out the window
Often seeing input from other readers makes the conversation more interesting and helpful for everyone. To make that easier for those reading from the email update, there is a comment link at the bottom of each email which will take you to the comment form on the Blogicito. You may need to display images in the email to see the link. I hope you'll try it. You can post comments anonymously or use a screen name on the blog. Once you set up an account (no one but me sees your email address), Disqus will remember you for future comments.

Reader comments are the fuel that keeps the blogger fire burning! Your comments mean a lot to me.